WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.020 Well, let's unpack this. We are diving deep into 00:00:03.020 --> 00:00:07.179 the life, the work, and the really astonishing 00:00:07.179 --> 00:00:10.259 influence of Mary Cassatt, an artist who started 00:00:10.259 --> 00:00:13.080 as this upper -class American rebel and became 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:16.059 just an absolute key figure in French Impressionism. 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:18.980 She was, I think, without question, the greatest 00:00:18.980 --> 00:00:22.660 visual chronicler of the new woman. Of the late 00:00:22.660 --> 00:00:25.039 19th century. It's still just a phenomenal story. 00:00:25.160 --> 00:00:26.800 I mean, just think about the sheer obstacles 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:29.620 she had to overcome. You've got this American 00:00:29.620 --> 00:00:32.840 woman born in Pennsylvania, right? Moves to Paris, 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:35.179 which is the absolute center of the art world. 00:00:35.299 --> 00:00:36.960 The epicenter, yeah. And she doesn't just get 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:39.740 accepted. She gets singled out by critics. One 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:42.240 of the three great ladies, L 'Etoile Grande Dame 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:45.140 of Impressionism. Alongside Berthe Morceau and 00:00:45.140 --> 00:00:47.439 Marie Brachemont. Exactly. I mean, that just 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:49.719 doesn't happen without incredible talent and, 00:00:49.820 --> 00:00:53.179 frankly, just sheer willpower. So our source 00:00:53.179 --> 00:00:55.200 material for this deep dive, it's a fantastic 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.479 stack of biographies, critical perspectives. 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:02.719 They really map out her path beautifully. We're 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:05.260 looking at her technical skill, that really important, 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:08.319 sometimes stormy partnership she had with Edgar 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:12.579 Degas. Oh, yeah. Crucially, how she basically 00:01:12.579 --> 00:01:15.379 became the main person, the evangelist, who brought 00:01:15.379 --> 00:01:18.219 impressionism to American collectors. You still 00:01:18.219 --> 00:01:20.319 see the legacy of that today, don't you? Like 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:22.519 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Completely. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:25.480 And what's so fascinating, I think, is her subject 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:28.420 matter. These intimate, unvarnished pictures 00:01:28.420 --> 00:01:31.519 of women's lives, social and private. Especially 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:34.060 the mother and child bond. Right. And it was 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:36.379 quietly radical, wasn't it? Because of her perspective. 00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:38.799 Totally. It was the female gaze turned onto the 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:41.340 domestic world. Yeah. that male artists well 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:43.159 they either couldn't get access to or maybe just 00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:44.840 didn't think were important enough elevating 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:48.299 the everyday exactly so our mission today really 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:51.840 is twofold first how did this ambitious kind 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:54.400 of unconventional woman get that knowledge get 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:57.599 that influence in a world basically set up to 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:01.420 stop her and second why was her specific viewpoint 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:04.480 her unique perspective so absolutely essential 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:07.340 in moving art you know out of that old academic 00:02:07.340 --> 00:02:10.129 tradition and into modernity Okay, let's start 00:02:10.129 --> 00:02:12.169 at the beginning then. Allegheny, Pennsylvania, 00:02:12.569 --> 00:02:17.569 1844. Mary Stevenson Cassatt is born. And this 00:02:17.569 --> 00:02:20.129 wasn't just any family. No, definitely not. Serious 00:02:20.129 --> 00:02:23.259 means high expectations. Upper middle class. 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:26.240 Right. Her father, Robert Simpson Cassatt, he 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:29.240 was a successful stockbroker, land speculator. 00:02:29.340 --> 00:02:31.400 The family name was actually Cassart originally, 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:34.060 French Huguenots. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Came 00:02:34.060 --> 00:02:37.539 over to New Amsterdam way back in 1662. And her 00:02:37.539 --> 00:02:39.939 mother, Catherine Kelso Johnston, she was from 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:43.080 a big banking family too. And importantly, really 00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:45.400 well educated, well read. And the mother seems 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:48.430 key here. Didn't Cassatt's friend, Louisine Havemeyer, 00:02:48.550 --> 00:02:50.389 say something about that? She did. Havemeyer 00:02:50.389 --> 00:02:52.430 basically argued that if you knew Catherine, 00:02:52.569 --> 00:02:55.250 you knew Mary got her brains, her capacity from 00:02:55.250 --> 00:02:57.849 her and her alone. Strong influence there. It's 00:02:57.849 --> 00:02:59.810 a strong intellectual foundation and then massive 00:02:59.810 --> 00:03:02.870 exposure to the world. Huge exposure. The Cassatts 00:03:02.870 --> 00:03:05.129 really believed travel was crucial for a good 00:03:05.129 --> 00:03:07.930 education. So Mary spent, what, five years in 00:03:07.930 --> 00:03:10.550 Europe as a child? Five years. Wow. Yeah. Learned 00:03:10.550 --> 00:03:13.250 German, French, got her first drawing and music 00:03:13.250 --> 00:03:16.379 lessons over there. Here's a little connection, 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:19.000 maybe. It's actually pretty likely she first 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:22.419 saw work by artists like Ingra, and crucially, 00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:25.560 her future mentors, Degas and Pizarro, at the 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:29.400 big Paris World's Fair in 1855. So the seeds 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:32.360 were planted very early on. Seems like it. Okay, 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:34.280 so she's got the foundation, she's seen Europe, 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:36.319 but then she decides, I want to be a professional 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:40.569 artist. And the family... Oh, they staged basically 00:03:40.569 --> 00:03:43.129 a full scale intervention. Total objection. Really? 00:03:43.270 --> 00:03:45.530 Yeah. She started studying at the Pennsylvania 00:03:45.530 --> 00:03:48.590 Academy of the Fine Arts P .M. when she was just 00:03:48.590 --> 00:03:52.110 15 back in 1859. Her parents were seriously worried 00:03:52.110 --> 00:03:55.289 about, you know, feminist ideas. And what seems 00:03:55.289 --> 00:03:58.469 funny now, the bohemian behavior of the male 00:03:58.469 --> 00:04:00.770 students. Art was fine as a hobby for a lady, 00:04:00.849 --> 00:04:02.849 you know, not a career. That kind of anxiety 00:04:02.849 --> 00:04:04.810 must have just fueled her determination, though. 00:04:04.909 --> 00:04:08.509 You think so, right? Seems it did. Cassatt was 00:04:08.509 --> 00:04:11.650 determined. Even then, she and her friends were 00:04:11.650 --> 00:04:13.849 apparently fierce advocates for equal rights. 00:04:14.310 --> 00:04:16.750 Lifelong thing for her. But the training itself 00:04:16.750 --> 00:04:20.589 at PFA, she wasn't impressed. Not at all. She 00:04:20.589 --> 00:04:23.790 found it frustrating, useless ultimately, studied 00:04:23.790 --> 00:04:27.029 there till 65, but later just dismissed it. Famously 00:04:27.029 --> 00:04:29.889 said there was no teaching. Just flat out. So 00:04:29.889 --> 00:04:31.649 what was so bad about it? What were the specific 00:04:31.649 --> 00:04:34.910 problems for women students then? Well, the restrictions 00:04:34.910 --> 00:04:38.639 were just severe. And purely based on gender. 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:41.240 Female students couldn't use live models, not 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:43.240 early on anyway. Seriously, what did they do 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:46.519 instead? Plaster casts. Hours and hours drawing 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:49.079 from casts of old statues. The whole atmosphere 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:52.980 was apparently patronizing, slow. So that impatience 00:04:52.980 --> 00:04:54.379 with the system, that must have started right 00:04:54.379 --> 00:04:57.519 there. Absolutely. Seeing firsthand how the institution 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:00.300 held her back just because she was a woman. That 00:05:00.300 --> 00:05:03.079 directly feeds into her later embrace of impressionism, 00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:04.920 her rejection of the whole academic structure. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:07.379 She learned early on that institutional approval 00:05:07.379 --> 00:05:10.060 wasn't the goal. It was maybe even flawed. Which 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:12.319 makes her decision to go to Paris almost inevitable, 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:14.660 doesn't it? It really does. That dissatisfaction 00:05:14.660 --> 00:05:18.240 just built up. So 1866, she finally overcomes 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:21.480 her father's objections, moves to Paris. The 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:24.079 art capital. But not on her own. Had to have 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:26.300 chaperones. Because remember, women couldn't 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:28.899 just waltz into the École des Beaux -Arts, the 00:05:28.899 --> 00:05:31.970 main art school. So how did she study? Private 00:05:31.970 --> 00:05:34.370 lessons. She studied with established academic 00:05:34.370 --> 00:05:38.550 masters like Jean -Leon Jerome. Known for that 00:05:38.550 --> 00:05:41.629 super realistic, almost photographic style, right? 00:05:41.709 --> 00:05:44.509 Exactly. Hyper realism. And also Thomas Couture, 00:05:44.529 --> 00:05:48.189 who did more romantic urban scenes. So she's 00:05:48.189 --> 00:05:51.069 learning the establishment techniques. while 00:05:51.069 --> 00:05:53.589 kind of getting ready to reject their whole philosophy. 00:05:53.750 --> 00:05:56.009 Pretty much. And the real key to her development, 00:05:56.089 --> 00:05:58.189 arguably, wasn't even in those studios. It was 00:05:58.189 --> 00:06:00.470 in the Louvre. Helping the masters. Hours and 00:06:00.470 --> 00:06:02.850 hours just copying the greats. It was critical 00:06:02.850 --> 00:06:05.089 for her technique, but it was also, interestingly, 00:06:05.310 --> 00:06:07.899 a social thing. Also. Well, the Louvre became 00:06:07.899 --> 00:06:10.920 this sort of acceptable social space for American 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:13.439 women art students. They couldn't hang out in 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:15.720 the avant garde cafes where all the male artists 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:18.279 were arguing and networking. Right. So they met 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:20.079 and connected with each other, like Elizabeth 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:22.920 Jane Gardner, while copying paintings. And she 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:25.139 actually found some success within that system. 00:06:25.550 --> 00:06:28.149 the salon system, even while starting to resent 00:06:28.149 --> 00:06:32.610 it. She did, for a bit. 1868, her painting, a 00:06:32.610 --> 00:06:35.170 mandolin player done in that acceptable romantic 00:06:35.170 --> 00:06:38.029 style, gets accepted by the Paris Salon Jury. 00:06:38.170 --> 00:06:40.350 Which is a big deal. Huge deal. Made her one 00:06:40.350 --> 00:06:42.389 of the first two American women to exhibit there 00:06:42.389 --> 00:06:44.730 that year. She kept submitting for about 10 years, 00:06:44.889 --> 00:06:47.509 trying to walk that line between her ambition 00:06:47.509 --> 00:06:49.829 and the establishment's rules. But getting more 00:06:49.829 --> 00:06:51.910 frustrated. Definitely. The whole French art 00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:54.170 scene was shifting dramatically. She called it 00:06:54.170 --> 00:06:56.910 chaos. as artists started rejecting the old academic 00:06:56.910 --> 00:06:59.529 traditions, her frustration was building. And 00:06:59.529 --> 00:07:02.170 then came this major interruption. The Franco 00:07:02.170 --> 00:07:04.889 -Prussian War sends her back to the U .S. in 00:07:04.889 --> 00:07:07.850 1870. And this sounds like a real low point for 00:07:07.850 --> 00:07:11.129 her. Altoona, Pennsylvania. Oh, it was a crisis 00:07:11.129 --> 00:07:15.170 point. A humiliating step back. Her family paid 00:07:15.170 --> 00:07:17.410 for her basic needs, food and shelter, sure, 00:07:17.550 --> 00:07:20.930 but her father, point blank, refused to pay for 00:07:20.930 --> 00:07:24.089 art supplies. No way. Yeah. No studio costs, 00:07:24.129 --> 00:07:26.990 no paints. She tried desperately to sell her 00:07:26.990 --> 00:07:30.269 work in New York, couldn't do it, and then disaster 00:07:30.269 --> 00:07:34.620 strikes. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Wiped 00:07:34.620 --> 00:07:36.259 out a bunch of her early work that was stored 00:07:36.259 --> 00:07:39.540 there. She was apparently so devastated she seriously 00:07:39.540 --> 00:07:42.639 thought about just giving up art entirely. Wow. 00:07:42.860 --> 00:07:44.759 Yeah, find some other way to make a living, be 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:47.420 independent. She wrote this despairing letter 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:49.720 saying she'd given up my studio and torn up my 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:51.920 father's portrait and have not touched a brush 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:54.579 for six weeks nor ever will again until I see 00:07:54.579 --> 00:07:56.740 some prospect of getting back to Europe. That's 00:07:56.740 --> 00:07:59.360 bleak. But thankfully that prospect did arrive. 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:01.879 And it gave her back her independence, financially 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:04.120 speaking. Ah, it did, yeah. A commission came 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:06.399 through from the Bishop of Pittsburgh, Michael 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:09.519 Dominick. A bishop. Yep. Hired her to go to Parma, 00:08:09.620 --> 00:08:12.560 Italy, and copy paintings by Correggio. It wasn't 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:14.660 a fortune, but it was enough. Enough money and 00:08:14.660 --> 00:08:16.420 enough excitement about returning to Europe to 00:08:16.420 --> 00:08:18.680 just reignite everything. And that's when she 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:21.399 wrote that amazing line. Oh, yeah. Oh, how wild 00:08:21.399 --> 00:08:23.459 I am to get to work. My fingers fairly itch and 00:08:23.459 --> 00:08:26.449 my eyes water to see a fine picture again. You 00:08:26.449 --> 00:08:29.110 feel that hunger, right? Totally. That raw need. 00:08:29.410 --> 00:08:31.829 And that propelled her back. Yeah. Back to Europe 00:08:31.829 --> 00:08:34.909 in 1871, ready to really make her mark. Okay, 00:08:34.950 --> 00:08:38.090 so Cassatt returns to Europe. Act two begins. 00:08:39.409 --> 00:08:41.470 And she's still having some success with the 00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:44.269 salon, but she's deeply cynical about it now. 00:08:44.549 --> 00:08:47.570 Completely cynical. And her critique was really 00:08:47.570 --> 00:08:50.789 rooted in her experience as a woman in that system. 00:08:51.070 --> 00:08:53.809 She was brutally honest about the politics. What 00:08:53.809 --> 00:08:55.649 did she say? She pointed out that, you know, 00:08:55.669 --> 00:08:58.389 works by women artists were often just dismissed 00:08:58.389 --> 00:09:01.269 unless the artist had a friend or protector on 00:09:01.269 --> 00:09:03.570 the jury. Nepotism, basically. Pretty much. And 00:09:03.570 --> 00:09:05.590 she refused to play those games, wouldn't flirt, 00:09:05.730 --> 00:09:08.710 wouldn't try to curry favor to get ahead. That 00:09:08.710 --> 00:09:10.850 kind of integrity, well, it meant rejection was 00:09:10.850 --> 00:09:13.889 almost guaranteed eventually. Again, 1877. Yep. 00:09:14.250 --> 00:09:16.289 Both her submissions to the salon that year, 00:09:16.409 --> 00:09:19.470 rejected, left her at this really critical low 00:09:19.470 --> 00:09:22.529 point. Perfect timing, in retrospect, because 00:09:22.529 --> 00:09:25.690 right then she gets the invitation. The invitation. 00:09:26.149 --> 00:09:29.090 Edgar Degas asks her to exhibit with the Impressionists. 00:09:29.169 --> 00:09:31.970 Faith. It really feels like it. Cassatt already 00:09:31.970 --> 00:09:35.230 knew Degas' work, his pastels especially. She'd 00:09:35.230 --> 00:09:38.350 seen them in 1875 and said, it changed my life. 00:09:38.490 --> 00:09:41.210 I saw art then as I wanted to see it. Wow. So 00:09:41.210 --> 00:09:44.629 she accepted immediately, jumped right in, joined 00:09:44.629 --> 00:09:47.870 their despairing fight, as she put it. So the 00:09:47.870 --> 00:09:50.450 Salon's rejection basically pushed her right 00:09:50.450 --> 00:09:52.929 into the arms of the avant -garde. What did it 00:09:52.929 --> 00:09:55.470 really mean, though, to join the impressionists, 00:09:55.610 --> 00:09:58.090 the independents, the intransigents back then? 00:09:58.210 --> 00:10:00.529 It meant turning your back on the salon, on that 00:10:00.529 --> 00:10:02.570 central authority. They didn't have like a formal 00:10:02.570 --> 00:10:05.350 manifesto, but they shared core ideas. Like painting 00:10:05.350 --> 00:10:08.649 outdoors. Right. Plain air painting. And trying 00:10:08.649 --> 00:10:11.450 to capture that fleeting impression of a moment 00:10:11.450 --> 00:10:14.129 using vibrant color, often in these separate 00:10:14.129 --> 00:10:16.309 visible brushstrokes. And Gassot was the only 00:10:16.309 --> 00:10:18.470 American officially in the group. The only one. 00:10:18.570 --> 00:10:21.190 And she went all in, exhibited in half of their 00:10:21.190 --> 00:10:24.000 later shows. immediately started carrying a sketchbook 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.399 everywhere, just like them, capturing scenes 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:29.480 on the fly, outdoors, at the theater. And you 00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:31.360 see her style change pretty quickly, right? More 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:34.220 spontaneity. Absolutely. More spontaneity, but 00:10:34.220 --> 00:10:38.379 also real rigor. She was dedicated to depicting 00:10:38.379 --> 00:10:41.559 movement, light, design in this totally modern 00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:44.440 way. It put her right up there with the leaders. 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:49.009 There was this critic, Diego Martelli. In 1879, 00:10:49.190 --> 00:10:52.250 he actually compared her directly to Degas, said 00:10:52.250 --> 00:10:54.549 they both had that modern sense of design and 00:10:54.549 --> 00:10:56.919 movement. She wasn't just tagging along. And 00:10:56.919 --> 00:10:59.000 that 1879 Impressionist show, that was a big 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:01.980 one for them financially, too. And she and Degas 00:11:01.980 --> 00:11:03.960 kind of rose above the criticism. Yeah, it was 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:06.200 their most successful show yet, money -wise. 00:11:06.460 --> 00:11:09.039 And yeah, even the really harsh traditional critics 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:11.740 had to admit Degas and Cassatt stood out. There's 00:11:11.740 --> 00:11:14.340 this great review from the Revue des Demandes. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:17.200 What did it say? It basically said, amidst all 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:19.820 the infantile daubing, that's how they saw a 00:11:19.820 --> 00:11:22.360 lot of Impressionism. Degas and Cassatt were 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:24.500 the only artists who distinguished themselves. 00:11:24.820 --> 00:11:26.940 So she wasn't just participating. She was seen 00:11:26.940 --> 00:11:28.960 as a leader. Exactly. She'd arrived. And then 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:31.379 she immediately reinvests in the movement, puts 00:11:31.379 --> 00:11:34.129 her money where her mouth is. Totally. Uses her 00:11:34.129 --> 00:11:36.909 share of the profits from that show to buy work 00:11:36.909 --> 00:11:40.809 by Degas and Monet. Smart move. Very. It showed 00:11:40.809 --> 00:11:43.129 she wasn't just an artist in the group. She was 00:11:43.129 --> 00:11:46.110 invested, a believer, a patron herself, really. 00:11:46.289 --> 00:11:48.649 Now, during all this, her family situation changes, 00:11:48.710 --> 00:11:51.549 too. Her parents and sister Lydia actually moved 00:11:51.549 --> 00:11:54.830 to Paris in 1877. Right. They come over to live 00:11:54.830 --> 00:11:57.669 with her. So she has that family closeness, but 00:11:57.669 --> 00:12:00.250 it's alongside this very clear decision she'd 00:12:00.250 --> 00:12:03.080 made early on. Marriage, conventional family 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:05.759 life, not compatible with her career. That was 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.200 non -negotiable for her. Seems like it. And she's 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:10.100 navigating family pressures, especially money. 00:12:10.539 --> 00:12:13.360 Her father insisted her studio, her supplies, 00:12:13.539 --> 00:12:15.700 they had to be paid for by her sales. Which weren't 00:12:15.700 --> 00:12:18.059 huge at first. Right, pretty meager early on. 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:21.299 That pressure, that need to sell, instead of 00:12:21.299 --> 00:12:23.639 discouraging her, it actually became this huge 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:26.799 driver. Pushed her to be professional, rigorous, 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:29.659 focused on producing quality work for exhibitions. 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:32.139 It's kind of ironic. The financial pressure meant 00:12:32.139 --> 00:12:34.279 to make her quit maybe actually fueled her success. 00:12:34.909 --> 00:12:36.889 You could definitely argue that. We see her really 00:12:36.889 --> 00:12:39.309 finding her voice in works from around that time, 00:12:39.370 --> 00:12:42.830 like 1878, little girl in a blue armchair with 00:12:42.830 --> 00:12:45.149 that impressionist feel. And reading Le Figaro, 00:12:45.210 --> 00:12:47.389 that powerful portrait of her mother. Exactly. 00:12:47.389 --> 00:12:49.590 She's developing this voice and it's a voice 00:12:49.590 --> 00:12:51.929 that's about to make a big impact back across 00:12:51.929 --> 00:12:54.769 the Atlantic because we have to talk about her 00:12:54.769 --> 00:12:58.470 role in bringing impressionism to America. She 00:12:58.470 --> 00:13:01.389 was the key connection, wasn't she? Largely through 00:13:01.389 --> 00:13:04.129 her friend, Louisine Elder. Absolutely central. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:08.320 Louisine married Harry Havemeyer in 1883. Cassatt 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:10.779 immediately becomes their go -to advisor, their 00:13:10.779 --> 00:13:13.159 trusted eye. Guiding their collecting. Guiding 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:15.659 them to collect Impressionists on a grand scale. 00:13:15.940 --> 00:13:18.399 She'd often secure pieces for them directly from 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:21.620 the artists in Paris. The impact of this, it's 00:13:21.620 --> 00:13:23.519 massive. Because that collection ended up... 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:26.580 At the Met. It forms the core of their impressionist 00:13:26.580 --> 00:13:28.940 and post -impressionist holdings. So Cassatt 00:13:28.940 --> 00:13:31.419 didn't just paint modern art. She literally helped 00:13:31.419 --> 00:13:33.559 build the American institutions that would house 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:37.200 it. Incredible. So by the mid -1880s, she's helped 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:39.059 launch a movement in the U .S., but she starts 00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:41.080 moving away from the impressionist label herself. 00:13:41.419 --> 00:13:44.639 Yeah, around 1886, she shifts. Her style becomes 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:46.980 maybe simpler, more straightforward, as some 00:13:46.980 --> 00:13:49.379 critics say. She starts experimenting more, especially 00:13:49.379 --> 00:13:51.580 with printmaking. We'll get to that. Okay. And 00:13:51.580 --> 00:13:53.960 she explicitly stops identifying with... any 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:57.139 single movement she refused to be boxed in started 00:13:57.139 --> 00:13:59.620 exhibiting in new york galleries too cementing 00:13:59.620 --> 00:14:02.299 her status beyond just paris so mary cassatt 00:14:02.299 --> 00:14:04.240 wasn't just painting the new woman she really 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:06.580 was the new woman this intellectual successful 00:14:06.580 --> 00:14:10.059 highly trained artist who made a conscious choice 00:14:10.990 --> 00:14:13.509 career over marriage. She totally personified 00:14:13.509 --> 00:14:16.429 it. And she was vocal about equality from early 00:14:16.429 --> 00:14:19.490 on, like in the 1860s, pushing for equal travel 00:14:19.490 --> 00:14:22.029 scholarships for women artists. Right. And much 00:14:22.029 --> 00:14:24.570 later, her strong support for women's suffrage 00:14:24.570 --> 00:14:27.269 in the 1910s, like contemporaries, artists like 00:14:27.269 --> 00:14:30.309 Cecilia Bow, she embodied that independent, socially 00:14:30.309 --> 00:14:33.169 active, career -driven identity. But what's really 00:14:33.169 --> 00:14:35.289 interesting is how her art reflected this without 00:14:35.289 --> 00:14:38.659 being overtly political, like propaganda. Exactly. 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:41.220 That's a subtlety, isn't it? She wasn't painting 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:44.700 protest signs. She painted people, women. But 00:14:44.700 --> 00:14:47.740 her portrayal was always respectful, dignified, 00:14:47.860 --> 00:14:51.100 suggesting this deeper, meaningful inner life. 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:53.820 Treating their lives, even domestic ones, as 00:14:53.820 --> 00:14:56.759 worthy subjects for serious art. Precisely. And 00:14:56.759 --> 00:14:58.879 this is where her being a woman gave her this 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:02.039 unique artistic edge. She could redefine that 00:15:02.039 --> 00:15:05.340 domestic space. To get high art. Yeah. Male impressionists 00:15:05.340 --> 00:15:07.279 were painting the boulevards, the cafes, the 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:10.899 races, the public world. Cassatt had access to 00:15:10.899 --> 00:15:12.960 the private world. Where men couldn't easily 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:15.500 go. Right. The daily routines, women's friendships, 00:15:15.659 --> 00:15:17.860 quiet moments at home. She could paint these 00:15:17.860 --> 00:15:20.139 scenes with an intimacy that a male artist likely 00:15:20.139 --> 00:15:22.509 couldn't achieve without seeming like... Well, 00:15:22.549 --> 00:15:24.990 like an intruder or a voyeur. But she did tackle 00:15:24.990 --> 00:15:27.070 that idea of voyeurism in public spaces, didn't 00:15:27.070 --> 00:15:30.149 she? In the Loge. Oh, masterfully. That's from 00:15:30.149 --> 00:15:33.129 1878. It shows a woman in an opera box looking 00:15:33.129 --> 00:15:35.730 quite absorbed, maybe looking at the stage. But 00:15:35.730 --> 00:15:38.549 then you see it. The man across the way? Exactly. 00:15:38.629 --> 00:15:41.769 A man in another box staring right at her through 00:15:41.769 --> 00:15:44.970 his opera glasses. Cassatt is exposing that dynamic. 00:15:45.820 --> 00:15:48.919 How public space, even a fancy opera house, was 00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:51.039 a place where women were constantly being watched, 00:15:51.299 --> 00:15:54.460 judged, consumed by the male gaze. It flips the 00:15:54.460 --> 00:15:56.879 script on the typical passive impressionist female 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:00.000 figure. Totally. Her women are active. They're 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:02.320 active observers with real engagement in their 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:04.799 environments. They're reading, thinking, talking, 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:07.720 or like in the lodge, navigating the complexities 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:11.899 of being seen. It's a world away from, say, Renoir's 00:16:11.899 --> 00:16:13.960 lounging beauties. Okay, now we have to talk 00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:16.330 about the mother and child theme. because that's 00:16:16.330 --> 00:16:18.009 what she becomes most famous for, especially 00:16:18.009 --> 00:16:20.549 later in her career. It really dominates her 00:16:20.549 --> 00:16:23.289 reputation after 1900, just this huge series 00:16:23.289 --> 00:16:26.269 of paintings, prints, incredibly rigorously drawn, 00:16:26.450 --> 00:16:29.110 but also so tenderly observed. And they often 00:16:29.110 --> 00:16:31.210 echo those Renaissance Madonna and Child paintings, 00:16:31.330 --> 00:16:33.429 don't they? They do. There's a kind of classical 00:16:33.429 --> 00:16:35.450 reverence she brings to this modern relationship, 00:16:35.610 --> 00:16:37.549 but here's the fascinating contradiction. One 00:16:37.549 --> 00:16:40.649 we keep coming back to. Yeah. She herself explicitly 00:16:40.649 --> 00:16:44.289 chose not to marry or have children. She used 00:16:44.289 --> 00:16:46.789 professional models for these paintings. So she's 00:16:46.789 --> 00:16:50.029 intensely focused on depicting a bond she consciously 00:16:50.029 --> 00:16:53.110 decided not to experience herself. Exactly. And 00:16:53.110 --> 00:16:55.970 that distance, that space between her life choices 00:16:55.970 --> 00:16:59.129 and the universal truth she's capturing, it's 00:16:59.129 --> 00:17:01.090 really interesting to think about. Does it give 00:17:01.090 --> 00:17:03.259 her a different perspective? More objective, 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:06.880 maybe? Perhaps. Maybe less sentimental. She could 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:09.160 focus on the essence of that bond, maybe, without 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:11.619 the filter of personal experience clouding it. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:14.619 It's debatable, but it's a key tension in her 00:17:14.619 --> 00:17:16.920 work. And her commitment to her principles, her 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:20.200 feminist ideals, it led to a pretty major public 00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:22.799 clash later on involving her family. Right. The 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.500 suffrage exhibition in 1915. Her good friend, 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:27.740 Louisine Havemeyer, who was a very committed 00:17:27.740 --> 00:17:30.299 feminist. The collector. Right. She organized 00:17:30.299 --> 00:17:32.920 this exhibition to support the cause of women's 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:36.799 suffrage. Cassatt contributes 18 pieces, a clear 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:39.519 public political stance. Which did not go down 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:41.599 well with everyone in the family. Not at all. 00:17:41.660 --> 00:17:44.220 Her sister -in -law, Eugenie Carter Cassatt, 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:47.460 who lived in Philadelphia society, was staunchly 00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:50.539 anti -suffrage. Major conflict. What happened? 00:17:50.579 --> 00:17:52.640 Eugenie and a lot of Philly society actually 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:56.250 boycotted the show. Public snub. Wow. And Cassatt's 00:17:56.250 --> 00:17:58.769 response? Decisive and very public, too. She 00:17:58.769 --> 00:18:00.789 started selling off artworks that she had originally 00:18:00.789 --> 00:18:03.569 intended for her heirs. Like, fine, if you don't 00:18:03.569 --> 00:18:05.190 support this, you don't get these paintings. 00:18:05.509 --> 00:18:08.690 That's bold. Artistic retaliation. Totally. And 00:18:08.690 --> 00:18:11.069 it was around then that one of her masterpieces, 00:18:11.450 --> 00:18:14.089 The Boating Party from 1893, which some people 00:18:14.089 --> 00:18:16.430 think was inspired by Eugenie's daughter, was 00:18:16.430 --> 00:18:19.210 bought by the National Gallery in D .C. She chose 00:18:19.210 --> 00:18:21.970 her principles over that family legacy. Okay, 00:18:22.009 --> 00:18:24.119 let's shift to the big relationship. Cassatt 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:26.819 and Degas, probably one of the most famous and 00:18:26.819 --> 00:18:29.359 complex artistic partnerships ever. They were 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:31.559 literally neighbors in Paris. Yeah, studios less 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:34.180 than a five minute walk apart, super close. And 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:36.700 that closeness led to this really intense collaboration 00:18:36.700 --> 00:18:40.299 over years. Degas was a mentor figure then. Definitely. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:43.559 For all his eccentricities, he was frequently 00:18:43.559 --> 00:18:46.200 in her studio, giving advice, helping her get 00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:48.319 models, which wasn't always easy. And they had 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:51.480 stuff in common beyond art. They did. Both came 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:53.680 from wealthy backgrounds, both studied in Italy, 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:56.319 fiercely independent, neither married, and they 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.059 both saw themselves primarily as figure painters, 00:18:59.259 --> 00:19:02.180 shared tastes in art, literature. And he was 00:19:02.180 --> 00:19:04.240 key in getting her to explore new techniques, 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:06.880 right? Beyond oil painting. Hugely important 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.519 there. Especially pastel, which gives you that 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:13.559 amazing immediacy and color vibrancy and printmaking. 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:16.119 Specifically, dry point. Can you just quickly 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:17.920 explain dry point again for our listeners? Sure. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:20.140 It's an etching technique. But instead of using 00:19:20.140 --> 00:19:22.700 acid, the artist scratches directly onto the 00:19:22.700 --> 00:19:25.319 copper plate with a sharp needle. This pushes 00:19:25.319 --> 00:19:27.980 up a little ridge of metal called a burr. Oh. 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:31.119 And that burr holds ink in a unique way, giving 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:34.240 the printed line this really rich sort of velvety 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:36.920 quality. Magas even lent her his own printing 00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:39.279 press. Her drawing skills just soared under his 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:40.900 guidance. And they were experimenting together 00:19:40.900 --> 00:19:44.130 constantly. All the time, trying weird materials 00:19:44.130 --> 00:19:47.569 like distemper, metallic paints. You see that 00:19:47.569 --> 00:19:50.289 in works like Woman Standing Holding a Fan. And 00:19:50.289 --> 00:19:52.569 you also see Cassatt using printmaking to reflect 00:19:52.569 --> 00:19:55.549 on herself, her status, that dry point reflection 00:19:55.549 --> 00:19:59.009 from around 1889. Yes. Many see it as this really 00:19:59.009 --> 00:20:01.710 thoughtful self -portrait, capturing the seriousness 00:20:01.710 --> 00:20:03.690 she brought to being an artist. And the influence 00:20:03.690 --> 00:20:06.329 flowed both ways, right? She was helping him, 00:20:06.369 --> 00:20:09.029 too. Oh, absolutely. She was his main connection 00:20:09.029 --> 00:20:11.450 to the American market, helped him sell paintings, 00:20:11.730 --> 00:20:13.789 talked him up to collectors like the Havemeyers, 00:20:13.970 --> 00:20:17.130 crucial for his reputation and income in America. 00:20:17.569 --> 00:20:20.170 Degas knew her value. He even did etchings of 00:20:20.170 --> 00:20:22.349 her studying art in the Louvre. For that Prince 00:20:22.349 --> 00:20:24.009 Journal they were planning. Exactly. That was 00:20:24.009 --> 00:20:26.390 meant to be a big collaboration. That collaboration, 00:20:26.509 --> 00:20:28.690 while close, was also pretty volatile. That Prince 00:20:28.690 --> 00:20:31.440 Journal project. didn't end well. No, it collapsed. 00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:35.160 That period, 1879 -80, was probably peak collaboration. 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:38.559 Cassatt was deep into mastering printmaking on 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:41.259 Degas' press, working really hard on prints like 00:20:41.259 --> 00:20:44.640 in the opera box for the journal. And then Degas, 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:48.059 who was famously fickle, just abruptly pulled 00:20:48.059 --> 00:20:50.880 out. April 1880, the whole project just folded. 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:54.079 Cassatt was furious, understandably, put in all 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:56.599 that work. She learned, I think, that you couldn't 00:20:56.599 --> 00:20:59.200 always rely on his fickle and temperamental nature, 00:20:59.220 --> 00:21:02.220 despite their deep artistic connection. OK, but 00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:05.140 I have to push on this a bit. Cassatt, the ultimate 00:21:05.140 --> 00:21:10.019 new woman feminist advocate. How did she square 00:21:10.019 --> 00:21:12.960 that with her deep affection for Degas, who was 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:15.579 known for making pretty anti -female remarks? 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:18.410 Was it just pragmatism? That's the million -dollar 00:21:18.410 --> 00:21:20.150 question about their relationship, isn't it? 00:21:20.170 --> 00:21:21.970 And maybe about Cassatt's whole professional 00:21:21.970 --> 00:21:24.170 navigation. We know she'd sometimes repeat his 00:21:24.170 --> 00:21:26.750 less pleasant comments almost affectionately, 00:21:26.769 --> 00:21:29.650 like his reaction to her painting two women picking 00:21:29.650 --> 00:21:32.049 fruit. What did he say? No woman has the right 00:21:32.049 --> 00:21:34.589 to draw like that. Wow. Backhanded compliment 00:21:34.589 --> 00:21:37.289 much. Totally. It's such a layered dynamic. Some 00:21:37.289 --> 00:21:38.809 scholars think, yeah, maybe it was a kind of 00:21:38.809 --> 00:21:41.569 defense mechanism. By treating his misogyny as 00:21:41.569 --> 00:21:43.970 just eccentricity, she could sort of compartmentalize 00:21:43.970 --> 00:21:45.690 it. And keep getting the benefit of his mentorship. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:49.200 Exactly. Keep accessing his technical genius, 00:21:49.380 --> 00:21:52.119 his critical eye, his connections. Maybe it was 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:55.400 a necessary transaction, you know? Protected 00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:57.680 by real affection, but still a transaction on 00:21:57.680 --> 00:21:59.960 some level. And the one thing that really seemed 00:21:59.960 --> 00:22:02.420 to bother her personally was the portrait he 00:22:02.420 --> 00:22:05.619 painted of her. Oh, yeah. The oil portrait, Mary 00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:08.539 Cassatt seated, holding cards, painted sometime 00:22:08.539 --> 00:22:11.779 in the early 1880s. She grew to really, really 00:22:11.779 --> 00:22:14.400 hate that painting. Why? We don't know exactly 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:16.559 why, but years later she wrote to her dealer, 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:18.799 Paul Duran Rule, basically saying, don't let 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:21.359 anyone know I posed for this. It's like, she 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:23.640 accepted his artistic input, but she wanted control 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:25.940 over her own image, and his version of her was 00:22:25.940 --> 00:22:28.640 one she ultimately rejected, fiercely guarded 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:31.299 her public persona. And we also can't skip over 00:22:31.299 --> 00:22:33.519 the big political split that really tested their 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:35.599 friendship later on. The Dreyfus Affair. Yeah, 00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:38.480 that tore France apart in the 1890s. And it split 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:40.359 the Impressionist circle, too. Where did they 00:22:40.359 --> 00:22:43.700 land? Degas was vehemently anti -Dreyfus, which 00:22:43.700 --> 00:22:46.119 kind of aligned with his more conservative, sometimes 00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:49.319 anti -Semitic views, sadly. Cassatt, on the other 00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:51.700 hand, was firmly pro -Dreyfus, alongside Monet 00:22:51.700 --> 00:22:54.660 and Pissarro. That's a huge divide. Massive. 00:22:54.660 --> 00:22:57.720 A fundamental clash of values. But somehow, despite 00:22:57.720 --> 00:23:00.500 that chasm, they managed to keep the friendship 00:23:00.500 --> 00:23:03.119 going, continue to visit each other until Degas 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:05.940 died in 1917. though apparently the relationship 00:23:05.940 --> 00:23:07.779 became much more focused on the business side 00:23:07.779 --> 00:23:10.420 of art, the commercial aspect, from the 1890s 00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:13.759 onward. Okay, so moving into the 1890s, this 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:16.940 seems to be Cassatt's absolute peak period. She's 00:23:16.940 --> 00:23:19.660 not the student anymore, she's the master, taking 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:22.579 on a mentor role herself. Yeah, her influence 00:23:22.579 --> 00:23:24.619 really broadens. She becomes more diplomatic, 00:23:24.819 --> 00:23:26.980 apparently, and starts advising younger American 00:23:26.980 --> 00:23:30.440 artists like Lucy A. Bacon. And this decade also 00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:33.160 brings what many consider her truly most original 00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:36.059 contribution. The color prints. Those groundbreaking 00:23:36.059 --> 00:23:38.539 color drypoint and acquaintance prints she exhibited 00:23:38.539 --> 00:23:41.039 in 1891. Just stunning. And this is where that 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:43.259 Japonism influence really comes through strongly. 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:45.160 These Japanese woodblock prints everyone was 00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:47.680 talking about. Absolutely. She saw that big show 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:50.259 of Japanese masters in Paris in 1890 and was 00:23:50.259 --> 00:23:53.660 just captivated. Adapted that aesthetic brilliantly. 00:23:53.819 --> 00:23:56.529 How so? What did she take from it? The simplicity, 00:23:56.769 --> 00:23:59.490 the clarity of the design, those strong, clean 00:23:59.490 --> 00:24:03.150 outlines defining flat areas of color. And technically, 00:24:03.289 --> 00:24:06.049 she achieved those flat color areas using aquatint. 00:24:06.230 --> 00:24:08.309 Which is different from dry point. Yeah, aquatint 00:24:08.309 --> 00:24:11.029 is another etching variation. It lets you create 00:24:11.029 --> 00:24:13.769 tones, sort of like watercolor washes, these 00:24:13.769 --> 00:24:17.150 beautiful flat blocks of delicate color. It was 00:24:17.150 --> 00:24:19.829 a huge departure from those feathery impressionist 00:24:19.829 --> 00:24:22.690 strokes. And she deliberately avoided using black 00:24:22.690 --> 00:24:25.450 outlines, preferring lighter colors. It's like 00:24:25.450 --> 00:24:28.089 she fused impressionist color sense with the 00:24:28.089 --> 00:24:30.509 bold graphic design of Japanese prints. That's 00:24:30.509 --> 00:24:32.589 a perfect way to put it. Art experts consistently 00:24:32.589 --> 00:24:35.289 say these prints, like Woman Bathing, the Coiffure, 00:24:35.430 --> 00:24:37.730 they're her most original work. Technically, 00:24:37.730 --> 00:24:39.970 maybe never surpassed in color printmaking. She 00:24:39.970 --> 00:24:42.009 wasn't just following trends. She was innovating 00:24:42.009 --> 00:24:44.089 at the highest level. And this creative peak 00:24:44.089 --> 00:24:47.089 leads to... potentially her biggest public project, 00:24:47.309 --> 00:24:50.150 that huge mural for the Chicago World's Fair 00:24:50.150 --> 00:24:53.670 in 1893. The World's Columbian Exposition? Yeah, 00:24:53.789 --> 00:24:55.190 it should have been her crowning achievement, 00:24:55.430 --> 00:24:58.250 commissioned by the Chicago socialite Bertha 00:24:58.250 --> 00:25:00.470 Palmer for the women's building. Massive scale, 00:25:00.549 --> 00:25:04.450 right? Huge. 12 feet high, 58 feet long. The 00:25:04.450 --> 00:25:07.779 theme was modern woman. It was basically Cassatt 00:25:07.779 --> 00:25:10.599 laying out her whole philosophy on a giant canvas. 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:12.920 What exactly did it depict? What was the message? 00:25:13.220 --> 00:25:15.880 It was designed as a triptych, three panels celebrating 00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:18.779 women's independence from men. The center panel 00:25:18.779 --> 00:25:20.980 was called Young Women Plucking the Fruits of 00:25:20.980 --> 00:25:23.700 Knowledge or Science. Love that. Right. And the 00:25:23.700 --> 00:25:27.019 side panels were young girls pursuing fame and 00:25:27.019 --> 00:25:30.599 arts, music, dancing. It was all about women 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:33.640 striving, achieving, creating completely on their 00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:37.500 own terms. Radical statement for 1893. We can't 00:25:37.500 --> 00:25:39.759 see it today. It's lost, isn't it? Tragically, 00:25:39.779 --> 00:25:42.140 yes. It's a massive loss for art history. After 00:25:42.140 --> 00:25:44.240 the fair closed, Bertha Palmer took possession 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:47.019 of it. But after Palmer died in 1918, the mural 00:25:47.019 --> 00:25:49.519 just disappeared. No one knows where. No idea. 00:25:49.579 --> 00:25:51.440 Probably destroyed, maybe just lost in storage 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:53.519 somewhere. But even just knowing about it tells 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:56.059 you so much about her commitment to female independence. 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:59.859 So as the 1900s begin, her role shifts again, 00:25:59.940 --> 00:26:02.380 more towards influencing institutions. Yeah, 00:26:02.420 --> 00:26:04.519 she becomes this quiet powerhouse behind the 00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:07.440 scenes, still advising major American collectors. 00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:10.779 And crucially, she kept insisting that they eventually 00:26:10.779 --> 00:26:14.019 donate their purchases to American museums. Securing 00:26:14.019 --> 00:26:16.809 the land. legacy. Exactly. Ensuring Impressionism 00:26:16.809 --> 00:26:19.910 had a permanent public home in the U .S. Her 00:26:19.910 --> 00:26:22.450 contribution was as much about curation and legacy 00:26:22.450 --> 00:26:24.509 building as it was about her own painting by 00:26:24.509 --> 00:26:26.809 then. Did she get recognition in her lifetime? 00:26:27.549 --> 00:26:30.109 awards and things? She did, though maybe slower 00:26:30.109 --> 00:26:32.029 in the U .S. than in France. France gave her 00:26:32.029 --> 00:26:34.650 the Légion d 'Honneur in 1904, which is a huge 00:26:34.650 --> 00:26:37.069 deal. Yeah. Apparently, recognition in the U 00:26:37.069 --> 00:26:39.250 .S. was a bit slower. She was often overshadowed 00:26:39.250 --> 00:26:41.509 by her very famous brother, Alexander Cassatt, 00:26:41.670 --> 00:26:44.309 the railroad president, until he died in 1906. 00:26:44.710 --> 00:26:47.089 And then, around 1910, things start to decline, 00:26:47.329 --> 00:26:50.029 physically and maybe creatively. Seems so. There 00:26:50.029 --> 00:26:52.289 was a trip to Egypt in 1910. The ancient art 00:26:52.289 --> 00:26:54.990 there just overwhelmed her, made her feel inadequate, 00:26:55.210 --> 00:26:58.119 almost. Yeah, she said she felt crushed by the 00:26:58.119 --> 00:27:01.240 strength of this art and despaired asking how 00:27:01.240 --> 00:27:03.460 are my feeble hands to ever paint the effect 00:27:03.460 --> 00:27:06.259 on me after that her work is often described 00:27:06.259 --> 00:27:09.079 as becoming less innovative ironically maybe 00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:11.299 more sentimental which she'd always avoided and 00:27:11.299 --> 00:27:13.539 then her health starts to fail yeah pretty soon 00:27:13.539 --> 00:27:16.420 after that by 1911 she's diagnosed with a whole 00:27:16.420 --> 00:27:19.519 list of things diabetes rheumatism neuralgia 00:27:20.140 --> 00:27:22.680 And the worst for an artist, cataracts. Oh no, 00:27:22.859 --> 00:27:25.119 her eyesight. Exactly. She kept painting for 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:27.539 a few more years, but by 1914 she was nearly 00:27:27.539 --> 00:27:30.759 blind, forced to stop painting altogether. Devastating. 00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:34.000 Truly. She died in 1926 at her country place 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:36.039 near Paris and was buried there in the family 00:27:36.039 --> 00:27:39.329 vault. But what a legacy she left. National Women's 00:27:39.329 --> 00:27:41.829 Hall of Fame, her paintings selling for millions, 00:27:41.970 --> 00:27:44.230 those postage stamps featuring her work. Yeah, 00:27:44.410 --> 00:27:46.650 the boating party on one, then the Great American 00:27:46.650 --> 00:27:49.029 Series, the American Treasure Series with the 00:27:49.029 --> 00:27:51.650 mother and child paintings, even a WWII Liberty 00:27:51.650 --> 00:27:53.950 ship named after her, and a garden in Paris. 00:27:54.309 --> 00:27:56.349 She really stands as this monument, doesn't she? 00:27:56.430 --> 00:27:59.609 To defiance, incredible skill, and that fierce 00:27:59.609 --> 00:28:02.329 professional independence. An American woman 00:28:02.329 --> 00:28:04.569 who conquered the toughest art scene in the world 00:28:04.569 --> 00:28:07.109 and helped define modern art. Hashtag O -T -E 00:28:07.109 --> 00:28:10.990 -T -R -O. Synthesis and final thought. So let's 00:28:10.990 --> 00:28:13.569 try to wrap this up. When you boil down Mary 00:28:13.569 --> 00:28:16.549 Kasach's incredible life and career, what are 00:28:16.549 --> 00:28:18.710 the absolute key takeaways for us? I think there 00:28:18.710 --> 00:28:21.750 are three main things. First, just her essential 00:28:21.750 --> 00:28:24.349 role in basically forging a professional path 00:28:24.349 --> 00:28:27.640 for... Women artists by defying the salon, by 00:28:27.640 --> 00:28:29.359 proving a woman could reach the absolute highest 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:32.180 levels of skill and critical acclaim purely on 00:28:32.180 --> 00:28:34.259 her own terms. Yeah, definitely. Number one. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:37.440 And second, her critical contribution to impressionism 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:39.859 itself, not just as an artist who could absolutely 00:28:39.859 --> 00:28:42.519 hold her own with Degas, Monet, Pissarro. Right. 00:28:42.599 --> 00:28:45.859 But as that key figure, that evangelist who strategically 00:28:45.859 --> 00:28:48.200 made sure the movement got collected, got respected 00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:50.920 and got into American museums, ensuring its future. 00:28:51.259 --> 00:28:53.779 And third, I'd say, is her revolutionary focus 00:28:53.779 --> 00:28:56.859 artistically on the dignity, the inner life, 00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:59.599 the intimate reality of women, the ultimate visual 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:03.180 chronicler of that new woman elevating the domestic, 00:29:03.339 --> 00:29:05.920 showing women as active subjects, not just passive 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:08.900 objects. Couldn't agree more. And her whole journey, 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:11.440 it's such a powerful lesson, isn't it? For anyone 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:14.880 in any field, really, it shows that sometimes 00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:17.619 reaching that highest level of achievement means 00:29:17.619 --> 00:29:20.500 you have to make a break. A complete separation 00:29:20.500 --> 00:29:23.000 from conventional expectations, whether that's 00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:25.319 family pressure, the academic establishment, 00:29:25.579 --> 00:29:27.799 maybe even the difficult aspects of a brilliant 00:29:27.799 --> 00:29:30.660 mentor like Degas. Challenging authority was 00:29:30.660 --> 00:29:32.900 key. So connecting this back to you, our listener, 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:35.019 and that final thought. Yeah. Cassatt famously 00:29:35.019 --> 00:29:37.420 decided marriage and motherhood wouldn't work 00:29:37.420 --> 00:29:39.779 with her career. It was an explicit choice. Right. 00:29:39.940 --> 00:29:42.299 Yet her most famous, most resonant, most tender 00:29:42.299 --> 00:29:44.859 works are those very paintings and prints of 00:29:44.859 --> 00:29:47.240 the mother and child bond. Subjects she depicted 00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:49.400 with this incredible rigor and universal truth, 00:29:49.579 --> 00:29:53.200 but never lived herself. Yeah. Which leads to 00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:56.000 that final question to shoo on. Did that independence, 00:29:56.299 --> 00:29:58.700 that deliberate distance she maintained from 00:29:58.700 --> 00:30:02.230 being a wife or mother herself. Did that actually 00:30:02.230 --> 00:30:04.450 give her the perspective she needed? The clear 00:30:04.450 --> 00:30:07.170 -eyed focus. Exactly. The critical distance required 00:30:07.170 --> 00:30:09.970 to see and depict the universal emotional truth 00:30:09.970 --> 00:30:12.750 of that maternal bond so perfectly, without maybe 00:30:12.750 --> 00:30:15.269 the complications or sentimentality of personal 00:30:15.269 --> 00:30:18.470 experience. Did rejecting the role in a way enable 00:30:18.470 --> 00:30:20.789 her to render it so masterfully? Something to 00:30:20.789 --> 00:30:22.210 think about next time you're lucky enough to 00:30:22.210 --> 00:30:23.470 stand in front of a Cassatt.